Which tool is best for me: Nagios, OpenNMS, or something else?

[Lars Stavholm]

Mike Hamrick wrote:
> I can't speak for OpenNMS, but I think for Nagios the answer for a lot
> of your questions is going to be:
> 
> "There isn't a way of doing this with the standard nagios plugin
> package, but someone has probably written a plugin that does this,
> check the Nagios Exchange site."
> 
>> % Confirm each machine is up/pingable/reachable [obviously!]
> 
> Obviously.
> 
>> % nmap each machine to make sure correct ports (varies by machine) and
>> no others are open
> 
> This isn't a standard nagios plugin, however somebody has a plugin that
> does this, a quick google search found:
> 
> http://ubermonkey.wordpress.com/2006/09/28/nagios-nmap-plugin/
> 
>> % Not all tests all the time: some tests should run less frequently
>> (reduce the load);
> 
> You can define the check_interval on a service by service basis.
> 
>> % For machines running httpd, download several pages, diff to last
>> copies of these pages, report "big" differences...
> 
> I'm guessing you'll have to code this plugin yourself in nagios.
> 
>> % For machines running sendmail, send a test email to one of the other
>> machines running sendmail, which then confirms receipt; alert if not
>> received. Also do other mail routing/delivery tests.
> 
> This is becomming a frequently asked question on this list.  Various
> people have written plugins to do this, but it's been my experience
> that most people who need this end up writing their own.
> 
>> % For machines running popd/imapd, simulate login to confirm
>> authentication is working (popd/imapd auth isn't always local for us)
> 
> See default answer.  A quick google search found this page, which
> confirms authentication on pop/imap.
> 
> http://www.jhweiss.de/software/nagios.html
> 
>> % Monitor files in /etc (eg, passwd, shadow, crontab) for changes.
> 
> You could do this with tripwire and then write a plugin that reads
> the snmp trap, or trap logfile.

Or, you could use check_rootkit plugin from
http://nagiosexchange.org and rkhunter from
http://www.rootkit.nl (comes preinstalled on
SuSE Linux 10.x).
/Lars

>> % Ideally, the "something bad has happened" reporting can be
>> configured-- it may be OK for "mailq -v" to be large for 10-15
>> minutes, but not for 30 minutes (for example).
> 
> You can do this with nagios.  You can check every five minutes and
> not go to a hard failure state until the check has failed six times.
> 
> Mike


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